This document provides guidelines for constructing different types of assessment items, including true-false, multiple choice, matching, and essay questions. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each type. For true-false items, it outlines seven rules, such as avoiding absolute terms like "always" and "never." For multiple choice, it recommends keeping stems and options concise. When constructing matching questions, it suggests including more choices than premises. Essay items allow for assessing higher-order thinking but are time-consuming to score.

2. TRUE OR FALSE QUESTION MAY EASILY BE USED, TO
DETERMINE IF THE STUDENT RECALL FAST.
BINOMIAL-CHOICE TESTS ARE TESTS THAT HAVE ONLY
TWO OPTIONS SUCH AS TRUE OR FALSE, RIGHT OR WRONG,
WELL OR BETTER OR SO ON.
A MODIFIED TRUE-FALSE TEST AN OFFSET OF GUESSING
BY REQUIRING STUDENTS TO EXPLAIN THEIR ANSWER AND TO
DISREGARD A CORRECT ANSWER.

3. SOME RULES OF THUMB IN CONSTRUCTING
TRUE-FALSE ITEMS;
•RULE1. DO NOT GIVE A HINT IN THE BODY OF THE
QUESTION.
•EX. THE PHILIPPINES GAINED IT’S INDEPENDENCE IN
1898 AND THEREFORE CELEBRATED IT’S CENTENNIAL
YEAR IN 2000

4. •RULE2. AVOID USING THE WORD “ALWAYS” “NEVER”
“OFTEN” AND OTHER ADVERBS THAT TEND TO BE
EITHER ALWAYS TRUE OR ALWAYS FALSE.
•EX. CHRISTMAS DAY FALLS ALWAYS ON SUNDAY
BECAUSE IT IS SABBATH DAY.

5. •RULE3. AVOID LONG SENTENCES AS THESE TEND TO BE
“TRUE”. KEEP SENTENCES SHORT.
•EX. TEST NEED TO BE VALID, RELIABLE AND USEFUL,
ALTHOUGH, IT WOULD REQUIRE A GREAT AMOUNT OF
TIME AND EFFORT TO ENSURE THAT TESTS POSSES
THESE TEST CHARACTERISTICS.

6. •RULE4. AVOID TRICK STATEMENT WITH SOME MINOR
MISLEADING WORD OR SPELLING ANOMALY, MISPLACED
PHRASES ETC. A WISE STUDENT WHO DOES NOT KNOW
THE SUBJECT MATTER MAY DETECT THIS STRATEGY AND
THUS GET THE ANSWER CORRECTLY.
•EX. THE PRINCIPLE OF OUR SCHOOL IS MR. ALBERT P.
PANADERO

7. •RULE5. AVOID QUOTING VERBATIM FROM REFERENCE
MATERIALS OR TEXTBOOK. THIS PRACTICE SENDS
WRONG SIGNAL TO THE STUDENTS THAT IT IS
NECESSARY TO MEMORIZE THE TEXTBOOK WORD
AND THUS, ACQUISITION OF HIGHER LEVEL
THINKING SKILLS ARE NOT GIVEN DUE IMPORTANCE.

8. •RULE6. AVOID SPECIFIC DETERMINERS OR GIVE-AWAY
QUALIFIERS. STUDENT QUICKLY LEARN THAT STRONGLY
WORDED STATEMENTS ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE FALSE THAN
TRUE.
FOR EXAMPLE, STATEMENTS WITH “NEVER“, “NO”, “ALL”, OR
“ALWAYS”. MODERATELY WORD STATEMENTS ARE MORE LIKELY
TO BE TRUE THAN FALSE. STATEMENTS WITH “MANY”, “OFTEN”,
“SOMETIMES”, “GENERALLY”, “FREQUENTLY”, OR “SOME” SHOULD
BE AVOIDED.

9. •RULE7. WITH TRUE OR FALSE QUESTION, AVOID A
GROSSLY DISPROPORTIONATE NUMBER OF EITHER
TRUE OR FALSE STATEMENTS OR EVEN PATTERNS IN
THE OCCURRENCE OF TRUE AND FALSE STATEMENTS.

11. MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS PROVIDE A NUMBER OF
OPTIONS FROM WHICH STUDENTS SELECT THE BEST ANSWER.
THE FORMAT OF A MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTION CONSISTS OF
TWO PARTS:
THE STEM, WHICH IS THE INTRODUCTORY QUESTION, OR
AN INCOMPLETE STATEMENT;
THE OPTIONS, CONSISTING OF THE CORRECT ANSWER, AND
THE INCORRECT ANSWERS (DISTRACTORS).

12. A MULTIPLE-CHOICE TEST USUALLY HAS DOZENS
OF QUESTIONS OR "ITEMS." FOR EACH QUESTION,
THE TEST- TAKER IS SUPPOSED TO SELECT THE
"BEST" CHOICE AMONG A SET OF FOUR OR FIVE
OPTIONS. (THEY ARE SOMETIME CALLED "SELECTED-
RESPONSE TESTS“.)

13. GUIDELINES FOR CONSTRUCTING MULTIPLE
CHOICE ITEMS
1. DO NOT USE UNFAMILIAR WORDS, TERMS AND PHRASES.
2.DO NOT USE MODIFIERS THAT ARE VAGUE AND WHOSE
MEANING CAN DIFFER FROM ONE PERSON TO THE NEXT SUCH
AS MUCH, OFTEN, USUALLY ETC.

14. 3.AVOID COMPLEX OR AWKWARD WORD ARRANGEMENT. ALSO,
AVOID USE OF NEGATIVES IN THE STEM AS THIS MAY ADD UN-
NECESSARY COMPREHENSION DIFFICULTIES.
4.DO NOT USE NEGATIVE OR DOUBLE NEGATIVE AS SUCH
STATEMENTS TEND TO BE CONFUSING. IT IS BEST TO USE
SIMPLER SENTENCES THAT WOULD REQUIRE EXPERTISE IN
GRAMMATICAL CONSTRUCTION.

15. 5.EACH ITEM STEM SHOULD BE AS A SHORT AS POSSIBLE;
OTHERWISE YOU RISK TESTING MORE FOR READING
COMPREHENSION SKILLS.
6.DISTRACTERS SHOULD BE EQUALLY PLAUSIBLE AND
ATTRACTIVE.
7.ALL MULTIPLE CHOICE OPTIONS SHOULD BE GRAMMATICALLY
CONSISTENT WITH THE STEM.

16. 8.THE LENGTH, EXPLICITNESS, OR DEGREE OF TECHNICALLY OF
ALTERNATIVES SHOULD NOT BE THE DETERMINANTS OF THE
CORRECTNESS OF THE ANSWER.
9.AVOID STEM THAT REVEAL THE ANSWER TO ANOTHER ITEM.
10.AVOID ALTERNATIVES THAT ARE SYNONYMOUS WITH OTHERS
OR THOSE THAT INCLUDE OR OVERLAP OTHERS.

17. MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION
USUALLY INCLUDE A PHRASE OR
STEM FLOWED BY THREE TO FIVE
OPTIONS:

18. READ THE DIRECTION CAREFULLY
►KNOW IF EACH QUESTION HAS ONE MORE
CORRECT OPTION
►KNOW IF YOU ARE PENALIZED FOR GUESSING
►KNOW HOW MUCH TIME IS ALLOWED (THIS
GOVERNS YOUR STRATEGY)

19. PREVIEW THE TEST
►READ TROUGH THE TEST QUICKLY AND ANSWER
THE EASIEST QUESTION FIRST
►MARK THOSE YOU THINK YOU KNOW IN SOME
WAY THAT IS APPROPRIATE
►READ TROUGH THE TEST SECOND TIME AND
ANSWER MORE DIFFICULT QUESTIONS

20. ►YOU MAY PICK UP CLUES FOR ANSWER FROM THE
FIRST READING OR BECOME MORE COMFORTABLE
IN THE TESTING SITUATION
►IF TIME ALLOWS, REVIEW BOTH QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS
►IT IS POSSIBLE YOU MISS-READ QUESTIONS THE
FIRST TIME

21. ARE MULTIPLE-CHOICE TESTS "OBJECTIVE"?
Test-makers often promote multiple-choice tests as "objective."
This is because there is no human judgement in the scoring,
which usually is done by machine. However, humans decide
what questions to ask, how to phrase questions, and what
"distractors" to use. All these are subjective decisions that can
be biased in ways that unfairly reward or harm some test-takers.
Therefore, multiple-choice tests are not really objective.

22. WHAT CAN MULTIPLE-CHOICE ITEMS BE USED FOR?
Multiple-choice items are best used for checking
whether students have learned facts and routine
procedures that have one, clearly correct answer.
However, an item may have two reasonable answer
options. Therefore, test directions usually ask test
takers to select the "best" answer.

23. MULTIPLE-CHOICE AND CRITICAL THINKING
It is possible to get multiple-choice items correct
without knowing much or doing any real thinking.
Because the answers are in front of the student, some
people call these tests "multiple- guess." Multiple-
choice items can be easier than open-ended questions
asking the same thing. This is because it is harder to
recall an answer than to recognize it.

24. DANGERS OF RELYING ON MULTIPLE-CHOICE TESTS
PRIMARY METHOD OF ASSESSMENT IS EDUCATIONALLY
DANGEROUS FOR MANY REASONS:
1.BECAUSE OF CULTURAL ASSUMPTIONS AND BIASES,
THE TESTS MAY BE INACCURATE.

25. 2.STUDENTS MAY RECOGNIZE OR KNOW FACTS OR
PROCEDURES WELL ENOUGH TO SCORE HIGH ON THE TEST,
BUT NOT BE ABLE TO THINK ABOUT THE SUBJECT OR APPLY
KNOWLEDGE, EVEN THOUGH BEING ABLE TO THINK AND
APPLY IS ESSENTIAL TO "KNOWING" ANY SUBJECT.
3.WHAT IS EASILY MEASURABLE MAY NOT BE AS IMPORTANT
AS WHAT IS NOT MEASURABLE OR IS MORE DIFFICULT TO
MEASURE.

26. 4.SINCE THE QUESTIONS USUALLY MUST BE ANSWERED
QUICKLY AND HAVE ONLY ONE CORRECT ANSWER,
STUDENTS LEARN THAT PROBLEMS FOR WHICH A SINGLE
ANSWER CANNOT BE CHOSEN QUICKLY ARE NOT
IMPORTANT.
5.WHEN SCHOOLS VIEW MULTIPLE-CHOICE TESTS AS
IMPORTANT, THEY OFTEN NARROW THEIR CURRICULUM TO
COVER ONLY WHAT IS ON THE EXAMS.

27. 6.WHEN NARROW TESTS DEFINE IMPORTANT
LEARNING, INSTRUCTION OFTEN GETS REDUCED TO
"DRILL AND KILL" - - LOTS OF PRACTICE ON
QUESTIONS THAT LOOK JUST LIKE THE TEST.

29. Maybe considered as modified multiple
choice type items where the choices
progressively reduce as one successfully
matches the items on the left with the items
on the right.

30. A. B.
_____1. Magellan a) the first president of the republic
_____2. Mabini b) National Hero
_____3. Rizal c) Discovery of the Philippines
_____4. Lapu-lapu d) Brain of Katipunan
_____5. Aguinaldo e) the grate painter
d) Defend the Limasawa
island

31. Normally, column B contain more items
than column A to prevent guessing on
the part of the students.
Often test lower order thinking skills
(knowledge level) .
Unable to test higher order thinking
skill such as application and judgment
skills.
A variant of the matching type test is
the data sufficiency and comparison
type of test.

32. A B
1. Square Root of 9 _________ a. -3
2. square of 29 _________ b. 615
3. 36 inches _________ c. 3 meters
4. 4 feet _________ d. 48 inches
5. 1 kilogram _________ e. 1 pound

33. The data sufficiency test can if properly
constructed, test higher order thinking skills.
Each item goes beyong simple recall and in
fact requires the students to make decisions.
Like the multiple choice test, the items
consist of a stem and a blank where the
students would write the correct answer.
Example: The Study of life and living
organism is called________________

34. Depends heavily on the way that the
stems are constructed.
Allows one and only answer and
hence after test the knowledge.
Possible to construct a test that will
test higher order thinking

35. EXAMPLE:
WRITE AN APPROPRIATE
SYNONYM FOR EACH OF THE
FOLLOWING, EACH BLANK
CORRESPONDS TO A LETTER.
1. METAMORPHOSE: _ _ _ _ _ _
2.FLOURISH: _ _ _ _

36. EXAMPLE:
WRITE AN APPROPRIATE
SYNONYM FOR EACH OF THE
FOLLOWING, EACH BLANK
CORRESPONDS TO A LETTER.
1. METAMORPHOSE: C H A N G E
2.FLOURISH: G R O W

37. GENERALLY QUITE BRIEF
AND ARE ESPECIALLY
SUITABLE FOR WHO, WHAT,
WHEN, AND WHERE
QUESTIONS.
THEY PERMIT EFFICIENT USE
OF SPACE.
THEY ARE EASY TO SCORE
ACCURATLY AND QUICKLY.

38. •THEY ARE DIFFICULT TO USE TO MEASURE LEARNING BEYOND
ECOGNITION OF BASIC FATUAL KNOWLEDGE.
•THEY ARE USUALLY POOR FOR DIAGNOSING STUDENT
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES.
•APPROPRIATE ONLY IN A LIMITED NUMBER OF SITUATION.
•AND THEY ARE DIFFICULT TO CONSTRUCT, SINCE PARALLEL
INFORMATION IS REQUIRED.

39. SUGGESTION FOR
CONSTRUCTING
MATCHING TYPE

40. Involve expressions in the stem, and
keep the responses short and simple.
Supply directions that clearly state the
basis for the matching, indicating whether
a response can be used more than once
and stating where the answer should be
placed.

41. Be certain there are never multiple choices
for one premise, although a choice may be
used as the correct answer for more than
one premise.
Avoid giving inadvertent grammatical clues
to the correct choice by ckecking that choices
match each other in terms of tense, number,
and part of speech.

42. Arrange items in the response column
in some logical order (alphabetical,
numerical, chronological) so students
can find them easily.
Avoid breaking a set of items
(premises and choices)
over two pages.

43. Use no more than 15 items in one set.
Provide more choices than premises
to make “process of elimination”
guessing less effective.
Use capital letters for the response
selections rather than lower case
letters.

44. ESSAY /
SHORT ANSWER
ITEMS

45. ADVANTAGES
SHORT-ANSWER ITEMS, THOSE LIMITED TO
FEWER THAN FIVE FULL SENTENCES, ARE
INTERCHANEGABLE WITH COMPLETION ITEMS.
IT ALLOW EXPRESSION OF BOTH BREADTH AND
DEPTH OF LEARNING, AND ENCOURAGE
ORIGINALITY, CREATIVITY, AND DIVERGENT
THINKING.

46. WRITTEN ITEMS OFFER STUDENTS THE
OPPORTUNITY TO USE THEIR OWN
JUDGEMENT, WRITING STYLES, AND
VOCABULARIES.
THEY ARE LESS TIME- CONSUMING TO
PREPARE THAN ANY OTHER ITEM TYPE.

47. DISADVANTAGESUNFORTUNATELY, TESTS CONSISTING ONLY OF
WRITTEN ITEMS PERMIT ONLY LIMITED SAMPLING OF
CONTENT.
ESSAY ITEMS ARE NOT EFFICIENT FOR ASSESSING
KNOWLEDGE OF BASIC LEARNING DUE TO THE TIME
REQUIRED FOR THE STUDENTS TO RESPOND FACTS,
AND THEY PROVIDE STUDENTS MORE OPPORTUNITY
FOR BLUFFING AND RAMBLING THAN DO
LIMITED- CHOICE ITEMS.

48. THEY FAVOR STUDENTS' GOOD
WRITING SKILLS AND NEATNESS, AND
THE ARE PITFALL FOR STUDENTS WHO
TEND TO GO OFF ON TANGENT OR
MISUNDERSTAND THE MAIN POINT OF
THE QUESTION.

49. THE MAIN DISADVANTAGE IS THAT
ESSAY ITEMS ARE DIFFICULT AND
TIME-CONSUMING TO SCORE AND
ARE SUBJECT TO BIASED AND
UNRELIABLE SCORING.

50. SUGGESTION FOR
CONSTRUCTING
ESSAY/ SHORT
ANSWER

51. Use novel problems or materal whenever
possible, but only if they relate to class learning.
Make essay questions comprehensive rather
than focused on small units of content.
Require students to demonstrate command of
background information by asking them to
provide supporting evidence for claims and
assertions.

52. Provide clear directions abot expectations.
Allow students an appropriate amount of time.
It is helpful to give students some guidelines
on how much time to use on each question, as
well as the desired length and format of the
respose.
e.g. Full sentence, phrases only,
etc.

53. Inform students, in advance, about the
propotional value of each item in comparison
to the total grade.
Keep grading in mind while creating the
questions.
Jot down notes of what you expect to see in
student answers that help identify mastery of
the subject matter.

54. ASSESSMENT OF
LEARNING

55. ESSAY
Is a piece of writing which is ofen written from an author's
personal point of view.
Classified as non-objective tests, allow for the assessment
of higher order thinking skills.
In essay test students are equested to write one or more
paragraph on specified topic.
Questions can be measure attainment of variety of
objectives.

56. 14 Types of Abilities That Can Be
Measured by Essay Items:
1. Comparisons between two or more things
2. The development and defense of an
opinion
3. Questions of cause and effect
4. Explanations of meanings

57. 5. Summarizing of information in a designated
area.
6. Analysis
7. Knowledge of relationships
8. Illustrations of rules, principles, procedures,
and applications
9. Applications of rules, laws, and principles to
new situations

58. 10. Criticisms of the adequacy, relevance, or
correctness of a concept, idea, or information
11. Formulation of new questions and problems
12. Reorganization of facts
13. Discriminations between objects, concepts,
or events
14. Inferential thinking

59. Rules of Thumb which
Facilitate the Grading
of Essay Papers.

60. RULE 1:
Phase the direction in such a way that
students are guided on the key concepts to be
included.
Example:
Write an essay on the topic, “Plant Photosynthesis”
using the following keywords and phrases: chlorophyll,
sunlight, water, carbon dioxide, oxygen,
by-product, stomata.

61. RULE 2:
Inform the students on the criteria to be
used for grading their essays. This rule
allows the students to focus on relevant and
substantive materials rather than on
peripheral and unnecessary facts and bits of
information.

62. Example:
Write an essay on the topic “Plant Photosynthesis”
using the keywords indicated. You will be graded
according to the following criteria.
(a) coherence
(b) accuracy of statements
(c) use of keywords
(d) clarity and
(e) extra points for innovative presentation of ideas.

63. RULE 3:
Put a time on the essay test.
RULE 4:
Decide on your essay grading system
prior to getting the essays of your
students.

64. RULE 5:
Evaluate all of the students answers to one questions
before proceeding to the next question.
RULE 6:
Evaluate answers to essay questions without knowing
the identity of the writer.
RULE 7:
Whenever possible, have two or more persons grade
each answer.